More than $2 million of independent expenditures has been funneled this week into the 5th Congressional District battle between state Sen. Andrew Roraback, a Republican, and his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Esty – making it the fourth most expensive congressional race in the country, according to OpenSecrets.org, and one of the most expensive in the state’s history.
More than $16.6 million has been spent on the race to date, according to OpenSecrets.org, including about $5 million from outside groups hoping to influence the outcome.
The most recent source of outside cash comes this week from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Independence USA PAC, which spent $1.1 million for an advertisement in support of Roraback that calls the candidate a “rare moderate” and an “independent voice.”
Bloomberg, who recently came out in support of President Barack Obama’s re-election bid, started the PAC earlier this month and reportedly plans to spend up to $15 million in support of local, state and congressional races.
“I am proud to have the support of Mayor Bloomberg’s PAC which supports socially moderate, fiscally prudent candidates who have the courage to be independent and who will work in a bi-partisan manner to help solve the many challenges America faces today,” Roraback said in response to the media buy.
Officials with the Esty’s campaign, however, said it makes sense for a billionaire like Bloomberg to support Roraback, claiming that the congressional candidate is “such a vocal supporter of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.”
“We are up against millions in superPAC expenditures, that’s what his (Roraback’s) campaign is now,” said Esty spokesman Jeb Fain.
He also pointed to the $1.1 million media buy earlier this month in support of Roraback by the “shadowing right wing” superPAC from Ohio, the Government Integrity Fund Action Network.
Fain said what matters most in the waning days of the campaign is the grass roots ground game and the “hundreds” of volunteers who have been making phone calls and knocking on doors on Esty’s behalf.
“At the end of the day shoe leather will beat superPAC’s,” he said.
Esty, however, has had an equal share of outside money flowing into the race in support of her campaign.
The House Majority PAC funneled more than $940,000 worth of media buy’s in support of Esty’s campaign this week releasing an ad that claims Roraback “fought to raise taxes on the middle class.”
Esty has also received about $1 million worth of expenditures in support of her campaign from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Meanwhile in the campaign, the Cook Political Report changed the race from “leaning Democratic” on Thursday to a toss up.
The report stated that “socially liberal GOP state Sen. Andrew Roraback is a good fit for this district’s upscale voters. The likelihood Roraback will outperform Romney in the Farmington Valley has earned this race a place in the Toss Up column.”
According to the latest Federal Elections Commission reports, Roraback has raised $1.3 million in his bid for hte congressional seat while Esty has amassed a war chest of $2.9 million during the campaign, including nearly $600,000 of her own money.